Dorothea of Denmark, Electress Palatine

For other people of the same name, see Dorothea of Denmark (disambiguation).

Dorothea of Denmark and Norway
Dorothy of the Palatinate as painted by Michiel Coxcie
Electress Palatine
Tenure	1544–1556
Spouse	Frederick II of the Palatinate
House	Oldenburg
Father	Christian II of Denmark
Mother	Isabella of Austria
Born	November 10, 1520 Copenhagen, Denmark
Died	May 31, 1580 Germany
Burial	Holy Ghost Church in Heidelberg

Dorothea of Denmark and Norway (November 10, 1520 – May 31, 1580) was a Danish, Norwegian and Swedish princess and an Electress of the Palatinate as the wife of Elector Frederick II of the Palatinate. She was a claimant to the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish thrones.

Biography

Dorothea of Denmark, Electress Palatine

Princess Dorothea was born on 10 November 1520 to King Christian II of Denmark and Norway and Isabella of Austria. Dorothea had an elder brother, Johann "Hans", born 21 February 1518. Her elder twin brothers, Philip Ferdinand and Maximilian, born 4 July 1519, had both died before her birth, the latter in 1519 and the former in 1520. Her sister Christina was born two years later, in 1522, and was her only sibling to reach adulthood. Christina would marry twice, first to Francis II, Duke of Milan, and secondly to Francis I, Duke of Lorraine.

On 20 January 1523, disloyal nobles forced her father to abdicate and offered the throne to his uncle, Duke Frederick of Holstein. That month, her mother gave birth to a stillborn son. Three-year-old Dorothea and her sister and brother followed their exiled parents to Veere in Zeeland, the Netherlands, and were taken care of by the Dutch regents, their grandaunt and aunt, Margaret of Austria and Mary of Hungary. The Dutch court was an officially Catholic environment, but influenced with a sympathy for Protestantism, and Dorothea herself acquired Protestant sympathies early on. Her mother died when she was five years old, on 19 January 1526.

Her brother Hans died in 1532 at about fourteen years old. As the eldest surviving child of the abdicated Christian II, Dorothea had a claim to the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish throne. The Habsburg family selected Frederick of the Palatinate to be her consort as they believed that he could successfully claim the Danish throne through marriage. She married Frederick in 1535 in Heidelberg. They had no children.

In 1536, her hope to succeed to the Danish and Norwegian thrones in reality was over. Her spouse, however, continued to claim it from their court in Neumarkt. The Habsburg dynasty officially continued to supported their claim, but no longer took any action to press the matter. In 1544, her spouse became Elector. The Habsburg family officially withdrew their support to their claim on the Danish and Norwegian throne the same year.

Dorothea and Frederick prevented the introduction of Protestantism that the Elector Palatine and Ottheinrich (Pfalz), his ward and successor, successfully pushed forward the Palatinate. Personally, Dorothea had Lutheran sympathies her entire life.

After the death of her husband in 1556, Dorothea lived modestly in Palatine castle in Neumarkt. As she had no children, Dorothea was no longer considered politically useful. She died childless and was buried in the Holy Ghost Church in Heidelberg.

Ancestry

References

• http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/597/bio/500/origin/170/ (in Danish)

Preceded by Sibylle of Bavaria

Electress Palatine 1544–1556

Succeeded by Marie of Brandenburg-Kulmbach

Persondata
Name	Denmark, Dorothea Of, Electress Palatine
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	November 10, 1520
Place of birth	Copenhagen, Denmark
Date of death	May 31, 1580
Place of death	Germany